


Journeying On

by Polarissruler



Category: Kino no Tabi | Kino's Journey - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dubs - what can you say, Gen, Sakura's named Lily, Trauma, Trauma Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24420988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polarissruler/pseuds/Polarissruler
Summary: It was a simple request. Kino agreed to take Lily to another land. Taking her further was a surprise.
Relationships: Kino & Sakura (Kino no Tabi)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: FandomWeekly (2019-2020) Writing Challenge on Dreamwidth





	Journeying On

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everybody! Here's one more thing for the fandomweekly over at dreamwidth. This time the prompt was "voulntold" - so I choose a somewhat dark version of this trope. And I've been wanting to rewrite this ending as soon as I finished episode 13 - would it hurt too much to make it less bitter and a just a tad more sweet?

"Lily," said her mother, "would you like to travel, too?"  
  
"What?" Lily turned to her mother, then to Kino.  
  
"Just a thought I had. You can travel with Kino. Expand your horizons. Learn more about the world. And once you are ready, you can come back home." Lily's mother gently stroked her shoulders. "The family hotel will stay here." Her voice weakened to whisper. She shut her eyes and kept speaking. "We will manage until you come back."  
  
"Really?" Lily pondered. Leaving! She could wander around the world she she had read about in books. She'd discover all tourists' lands. "Can I?"  
  
The mother nodded. "If you want, honey."  
  
Kino was seeping her tea, watching the exchange. A world so far from her own, yet she still could predict Lily's "No."  
  
"I don't want to leave," Lily said after a second. "I want to stay here and become the best tour guide in the country! I want to show everybody our unique history and our lovely sights and our amazing culture… And I have the best teachers, don't I?" She hugged her mother.  
  
The mother replied nothing, biting her lip. After a second, she pulled from the hug.  
  
"You can tell travelers about our land," Lily's father quipped. "You will share every story you know with them. And once they come here, we will tour them and let them see everything they have discovered from you. You can be a tour guide from afar."  
  
The mother shot him a glance, then they both faced Lily.  
  
"I…" Lily looked down. Besides Kino, she had met no travelers. If she left on her journey, she would convince more visitors. Maybe enough to fill her parents' hotel.  
  
"What do you say, Kino?" the mother asked. "Will you escort our daughter to the nearest land?"  
  
"Will you, Kino?" Swept by her dreams, Lily clasped Kino's hand. "I cannot burden my guest with a choice she has not made…"  
  
Kino nodded. "I have grown used to traveling alone. A little company will do me fine."

* * *

"Am I not a company?" quipped Hermes while Kino laid in bed. "You and your new friend can walk alone to the next town. You don't need a motorrad, after all."  
  
"I did not mean to say that, Hermes."  
  
"What, then? You've refused every other offer; what makes the girl so special? Ah, may you be in love with her, Kino? You are around that age…"  
  
"Quiet, Hermes."  
  
"I am correct, then. You love her. Yuck, I don't want you two doing that on me…"  
  
"I have never suspected motorrads knew about that."  
  
"You weren't the only one to read in the Land of Books. If not love, why did you permit the girl to come? Two like you will weigh me down too much."  
  
"I'll drive you slower. Lily can walk along with me."  
  
"You will slow down for her? Love, I swear it."  
  
A pillow flew to the motorrad.

* * *

"Oh, poor me! How am I supposed to carry enough rations for two?"  
  
"It's temporary, Hermes," Kino replied. Then, ignoring the complaints, she turned to slower-walking Lily. "Are you tired? We can take a rest."  
  
"No!" Lily puffed up the way only children could. "We promised we would rest only after we reach the safe ridge! Or we could end buried in a landslide."  
  
Kino smiled and drove on, although neither she, nor Hermes found the land as brittle as warned.

* * *

The world wasn't beautiful. It held no obligation to follow anyone's standards. And Kino did not expect it - she found the allure of darkness and the macabre enough. The cruel lands drove her away - to even more heartbreaking places, so that she would see them all. Yet sometimes, she wished for the impossible: for the world to have a more conventional charm.  
  
"Let me go!" Lily cried. "I have to save them!" She struggled against Kino's powerful gasp.  
  
"You cannot," Kino repeated Hermes's words like a chilling record. "The lava will kill you." She left out his thorough descriptions.  
  
"I must!" Lily coughed - from crying and from the ash. Her legs weakened and she fell on her knees. "I! Where will I come back to?" Her eyes - red from tears - turned to Kino.  
  
"I cannot answer." Out of all truths, this pained Kino the most. "Never once I have thought about coming back. I always drove forward, seeking everything."  
  
"No home?" Lily had shut her eyes close before the lava reached the outskirts of her country. The first few houses were sinking in the molten rock.  
  
Silence. Lily strained to lift herself but had no power.  
  
"You can say so," Kino spoke. "No home where I can return."  
  
Lily did not reply; she had fallen asleep on the ground.

* * *

"They have known." Lily let the letter fall from her hand. A faint wind blew it on the ground, next to her. "Why did they not tell me? My birthday was just around the corner. If I knew…" Still gray replaced her once-home. "Why? I should have stayed with them! I…" Tears fell off her face.  
  
"They demanded you to live," Kino filled the silence.  
  
We know it is a harsh wish, but please, look after our Lily. The end of her letter burnt bright in her thoughts.  
  
"I am sorry," Kino murmured - a prayer to all people, who she would most likely fail. She had only one way of living.  
  
"Do you want to ride on Hermes? He should be able to take both of us to the next town. There, we will find you a more suitable transport. Maybe a motorrad of your own."  
  
Hermes did not protest.  
  
"I… will I have to travel alone?" That wasn't a question. A lone girl, who had lost her world, pleaded for help.  
  
"I told your parents, did I not?" Kino gently hugged Lily. "Some company will do me fine."


End file.
